Locker Room Wrap: ECU Loss Exposes Tech's Youthful Inexperience

When the Hokies lose against a seemingly inferior opponent after coming off a big game, fans and the media alike sound the "didn't take them seriously" alarm.

It's an easy narrative to latch on to. Tech scored a program-defining win against Ohio State, then didn't adequately prepare for East Carolina and their unconventional offense.

But coaches and players alike insist that isn't the case, and it's hard to disagree with them.

"I'm not going to make that excuse," said Frank Beamer. "We were ready to play, we understood exactly how East Carolina was going to play, it wasn't a secret...I felt we had all the respect in the world for East Carolina, they just did a great job."

Keep in mind, ECU is a team that had a lead against South Carolina in Columbia, and thumped UNC last year. The Pirates may very well be better than many of Tech's ACC opponents this year (here's looking at you, Wake Forest) and the Hokies seemed well aware of the threat they posed.

"As a team, we all respected them coming in," said defensive end Ken Ekanem. "They're really, really underrated, it's all what we expected, we just had a rough start."

This loss simply revealed the great many flaws in this young, inexperienced team. Beamer has long preached patience with this squad, likely with an eye cast to 2015, and a loss to the Pirates revealed that the Hokies aren't suddenly a perfect team just because they beat the Buckeyes.

Picking on the Cornerbacks

Bud Foster's bold strategy of leaving his cornerbacks one-on-one with the Buckeyes' receivers earned a lot of praise after last week's win, and Pirates head coach Ruffin McNeill took notice.

He surely observed that Brandon Facyson, who was forced to rotate with Chuck Clark a week ago, wasn't at full speed, and when combined with quarterback Shane Carden's poise in the pocket, this proved to be a perfect storm to attack Tech's defense.

"Going into the game, we knew they were good, but we felt we had to hit some long ones to open things up," McNeill said.

It turns out he was exactly right. The Hokies put tons of pressure on Carden, even during ECU's charmed first quarter, but it didn't seem to matter as he connected on long throw after long throw.

That allowed McNeill to push the pace and force the Hokies to stay on their toes.

"It's important every game for us to start fast and sustain it," McNeill said. "This team is able to do that."

McNeill's bold strategy and Carden's poise definitely deserve praise, but ultimately, the Hokies' cornerbacks failed to make the kinds of plays on the ball fans have become accustomed to seeing.

"As good as were last week playing the deep ball, we were equally as bad this week," said defensive coordinator Bud Foster. "We had a good game plan, we just couldn't make a play on a deep ball all day."

Many of Carden's throws weren't perfect, looking like lobs more than anything, yet ECU's receivers showed an uncanny ability to make plays on jump balls.

In particular, Cam Worthy was able to use his 6'3" frame to make a variety of big catches on the day, finishing with an insane stat line of six catches for 224 yards.

"Their receivers did a great job of going up and getting the ball," Foster said. "We didn't do a very good job of that."

Part of that definitely stem's from Facyson's struggles, but his replacement, Donovan Riley, got torched on a few throws as well, as did Clark and both safeties.

But Riley did seem more confident than Facyson, and he probably deserves to get the start against Georgia Tech while Facyson continues to work his way back, but this definitely creates big questions about the Hokies' most consistent unit.

"(Facyson)'s missed a lot of time, missed a lot of practice time and you can't make that up," Beamer said. "He's a terrific athlete and a good kid, he'll be a better guy next week. And Riley is a tough guy that played his heart out."

Inconsistency in the Running Game

After Marshawn Williams and Shai McKenzie put on a show against William and Mary, people started to wonder if the running game would define the offense this year.

Three games into the season, it would seem the running attack isn't quite there yet. It doesn't help that offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler was game-planning against the Buckeyes' dominant defensive line and the Pirates' underrated NT Terry Williams the last two weeks, but fans were hoping for some signs of progress.

"I think we can look at our blocking, at why we weren't able to run the ball early and again late," Beamer said.

The Hokies can be forgiven for abandoning the running game when they were down 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Yet Tech's inability to get any sort of push on the offensive line when the offense desperately needed to give the defense some time on the sidelines in the first quarter is unexplainable.

"The fact of the matter is we should have put this away in the first half and we didn't," Loeffler said.

Williams was excellent on the inside, besting center Caleb Farris on several occasions.

In the first quarter, the only runs Tech managed over five yards was a six-yard jet sweep to receiver Deon Newsome and a 10-yard burst by Marshawn Williams. That's it.

The second quarter was even worse. Williams had one gain of five yards, with a number of others stopped for no gain.

McKenzie got in on only three series in the first half, finishing with seven yards in the first two quarters and 18 in the whole game.

Yet, Williams slowly gained steam in the third quarter, before the team had to pick up the pace to catch up.

He got nine of his 17 carries in just the third quarter, and used them to gain 57 of his 77 total yards.

"It just started opening up," Williams said. "Some plays they open up, some plays they don't, on some plays we had good blocking to the outside."

He came agonizingly close to breaking several runs wide open, particularly on a 21-yard scamper in the third, but couldn't quite hit paydirt.

"I've got to break a few more of those tackles," Williams said. "I'm going to learn from that and it shouldn't be a problem again."

But Williams was the only positive in a dismal day for the running game, and the staff will have to find some answers going forward, particularly on the offensive line.

Freshman WRs Thrive, Veterans Struggle

When Willie Byrn dropped what would've been a sure third down conversion late in the fourth quarter, it was an odd sight to see.

"It doesn't happen very often, does it?" Beamer said. "It wasn't because of effort, you just need to get the next play."

Byrn, popularly known as the "Paper Boy" because he always delivers, put on an uncharacteristically inconsistent showing against the Pirates, and he was wasn't the only one.

Josh Stanford looked invisible on the field, catching just two balls for 14 yards and making bad drops on two other throws.

Most people thought Stanford and Byrn would be stabilizing forces for the offense this year, yet it was the freshman receivers that came through when the Hokies needed it most against the Pirates.

Cam Phillips finished with seven catches for 89 yards and the game-tying touchdown, while Isaiah Ford had seven receptions for 77 yards and the team's other two scores.

"Somebody's going to have to make a play," Ford said. "As a receiver group, we knew it was going to have to be one of us. If the ball came to us, it was crunch time and we had to make a play."

Ford was guilty of a drop himself, letting what should have been a touchdown slip through his fingers on the Hokies' second scoring drive, but he recovered to score three plays later.

But that doesn't mean he isn't still a little frustrated about his misstep.

"I'm really hard on myself like that," Ford said. "I don't expect to drop any balls so it was kind of a little relief when I caught the second one, but at the same time, that can't happen."

Receivers coach Aaron Moorehead has to be thrilled with the effort he's getting from two true freshmen, even if the veterans' issues are a little concerning.

One thing is for sure after Saturday's drop-filled performance: the JUGS machine will be making another appearance at practice very soon.

Carden Under Fire

Beyond some bright spots with the young offensive players, Tech's staff has to be most encouraged by the ferocity the front-seven played with in the second half.

The Hokies sacked Carden four times on the day, and hit him a whopping 17 times, proving that this defense can still pack a punch even without a big lead or an exotic scheme.

Defensive end Ken Ekanem and linebacker Deon Clarke looked particularly good in the pass rush, combining for 3.5 sacks and eight quarterback hits.

Ekanem attributes the change to some halftime adjustments and a growing comfort with the Pirates' offensive line.

"We just got a better feel for the offensive line and what they were doing protection wise, we applied the right pressure, we had a few scheme changes during halftime, so we got to the quarterback more and I got a better feel for my tackle," Ekanem said.

The Hokies got a decent push in the first half, bringing Carden down twice, but the pressure wasn't nearly as consistent as it was in the second, when the pocket was constantly collapsing for ECU.

"We came into halftime and we adjusted, so it definitely helped us out, and we started playing with more intensity," Ekanem said. "We were a little shocked at first, but after we got over the shock, we were good."

But for all their positive efforts, Ekanem still feels like the unit could've made a big play late in the game to seal the comeback.

"I thought I was doing pretty well against the tackles, I thought I would give myself a chance to get to the quarterback and maybe force a fumble, and I came pretty close at the end, but it was kind of disappointing," Ekanem said. "I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't make that play. We would've had good field position, and who knows how that game would've ended."

Foster shares that feeling of disappointment, and has a simple request for Hokie fans headed into next week.

"I apologize to everybody for how we played as far as giving this one up in the end," Foster said. "Don't get down on us, we need everybody next week when we open up ACC (play)."